First the Gas, then the Grid: Keeping the Cart Behind the Horse

First the Gas, then the Grid: Keeping the Cart Behind the Horse

Speaking at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Gas Association in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, AIMS President Brian Lee Crowley made the case that while some believe that Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have opposing interests in natural gas, nothing could be further from the truth. Both would benefit more from increased gas exploration and development, and both would be harmed by a premature extension of the national gas distribution grid to uneconomic areas. Rather than creating artificial domestic markets that are expensive to service, we are far better off reaping the full market value of the resource at this stage, and encouraging an expanding exploration and development industry. The exploration and development effort to date has already created more economic benefit for New Brunswick than the availability of natural gas itself in the southern part of the province, so it makes no sense to damage that exploration effort in order to bring gas to the northern half. Finding more gas will ultimately improve the economics of extending the national grid, but now is the time to be clear about the real priorities and to keep that distribution cart firmly behind the exploration horse. To read more click here.